As is the way of Legend, it continues to grow
| Platform | Presentation | Controls | Variety | Audio | Depth | Value & Fun | OVERALL |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wii | 10.00 | 9.25 | 10.00 | 9.50 | 9.50 | 10.00 | 9.76 |
| General Information |
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Multiplayer Importance: None. Previously played game in the series: Almost all. For context, my rating of Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker was 8.65. Television set-up: 19" Sylvania CRT, SDTV 480i, composite cables. |
| Gameplay Description |
| The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess is an action-adventure game, and is the sequel to The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (released in 2003 on GameCube). The Legend of Zelda games are based on the game's own legend that when the dark wizard Ganon appears to spread darkness across the land, the Hero of Time will appear and defeat him. The Hero of Time, is Link, of whom you are in control. The game takes place in Hyrule, which is a land you are free to roam around in as you wish. The game was originally developed for the GameCube, but was adjusted in controls and delayed for a release on Wii which ended up releasing first. |
| Dedication Meter | 40.00 |
| While Twilight Princess is very long, it's not a game that you have to put a ton of time in to get a return, nor have to play much each day to enjoy the experience. The lack of difficulty actual helps those who aren't going to play several hours per day as there isn't a steep learning curve to jump back into the game. In the end, though, to finish the game is a 40 hour endeavour, and when you start a game, to get the most out of it, you have to finish. | |
| Presentation | 10.00 |
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While Twilight Princess is in all technical aspects a GameCube title, aside from polygon count this is of the best presented titles every created. The character designs are easily the best in the series and arguably ever seen; the faces even manage to remain as expressive they were in The Wind Waker. The characters are part of the strange ability of the game to maintain a cohesive realism in a markedly unrealistic world; little under the scope of realistic actions makes sense, but in Hyrule, it manages to all come together in a realistic manner. There are nice touches everywhere, such as that Link now turns his head to look at things you can lock on to such as other characters, enemies, signs, items and switches. There's also, as typical of 3D Zelda, an in-game day-night cycle. And capping it off, the animations are incredible. The composition of the world feels very Lord of the Rings influenced right down to several enemies, and it fits very well. Perhaps related, the enemy design is also best in series as perhaps for the first time ever, the enemies in a Zelda game appear particularly menacing. It's also fitting that a game influenced by a book manages to have beautiful storytelling. The art direction in the cinematic scenes surpass even The Wind Waker and manage to create scenes as effective through the real-time engine as CG. The character development in the story is near-perfect creating extremely likeable characters and utterly distainful foes. The story also introduces Midna, who will be your guide for much of the game, who is simply the best single supporting character ever introduced to a Zelda game. Ultimately, the story is spread a little thin over the very lengthy game, but it all comes together to drive the desire to make the world right again. The contrast between the Twilight Realm and Light World makes the Twilight Realm stand out further with stellar effects that only improve up to the end. Cel-shaded particles used in various instances work exceptionally well, and the lighting does an incredible job creating a weird blurry effect. In the Twilight Realm, you are transformed into a wolf and can interact with animals, which really shows how much detail has been put into the game. Just the nature of the animals and their actions and responses fit so perfectly. There are absolutely no frame-rate drops throughout the game, which is a big plus. When striking many characters, though, it can seem that way due to the game's design of a slight delay when you hit an enemy to create the illusion of impact. The maps are very well designed and detailed, and having it persistent in the corner is a huge improvement. The HUD in the game, aside from the map, is typical Zelda fare with which items assigned to which buttons shown clear in the top-right corner. Overall, while Twilight Princess will be surpassed technically on Wii if it has not happened already, the game is genuinely artful and some improvement in ground textures and some extra polygons in the characters isn't going to improve the experience above an already beautiful game. From stunning introduction to sweetly end, the entire visual approach couldn't have been done better. |
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| Controls | 9.25 |
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The controls are mapped pretty much perfectly for the actions involved in the game. Normal attacks are executed by swinging the Wiimote, action and rolling is set to A, equipped item to B, consulting Midna to the top arrow on the directional page, switchable items to the rest of the D-pad, first-person look to C on the nunchuck and camera behind/lock-on to Z. A cause of concern is whether attacking through motion will become tiresome. While it's true that the motion sensor is basically a substitution for a button, it feels surprisingly natural and works just as well. Arguably, though, it works better in that use of the nunchuck helps balance the use of different abilities. The spin attack is used by shaking the nunchuck left and right making it, for the first time in a Zelda game, actually useful. More techniques are learned throughout the game that all fit into the control scheme well. Due to the sheer variety in gameplay, there are many other individual controls and all of them work near perfectly and give a good sense of what you're supposed to do. The fishing, however, isn't properly explained and can be utterly frustrating if you don't understand. There were problems with control in The Wind Waker and they've mostly been covered. After knocking down an enemy, there's still a period in which the enemy is invulnerable, but there's now some collision during that period that makes it feel more natural and eliminates the annoyance. There are also finishing strikes to grounded enemies that are very viceral and rewarding. Another problem was that movement of Link was a bit jerky and quick, which is much smoother in Twilight Princess. The camera is also much improved. The last of issues was touchy first person controls, which thanks to the Wiimote is endlessly better. There are some minor control issues, though. The dungeon map control is a bit unweildy as you're not controlling the camera that views the map, but the map itself, which means everything is the opposite and it can be very hard to adjust. The fairy that shows where the pointer is when you're not using a projectile item is pretty useless and can be a little annoying as well as disrupt first-person look if it's just on the edge of the screen. The only issue that has any actual importance, though, is that when you're trying to switch the camera but there's something you can lock-on to in the area, such as an enemy, it will keep locking onto the enemy and moving the camera behind you, which is annoying. Fortunately, I only found this occur 2-4 times in the entire game. |
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| Variety | 10.00 |
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There is more to Twilight Princess than any Zelda game before it. It's not that there's a bunch of mini-games or tons of little things to collect, but the entire story-driven game stays incredibly fresh and varying throughout the game without ever having to get into sidequests. Progression through the story unlocks minigames by nature of the expanding world and not just here's a town, there's some games. Related to that is that the game isn't just going dungeon to dungeon; there is a lot going on just getting from place to place. In the end it is indeed the dungeons that brings people into Zelda, and there are more dungeons than any prior 3D Zelda game. Not only are there many dungeons to trek through, each takes about two hours to finish, each with a very memorable inventive boss in the end. The puzzles throughout the dungeons stay markably original, intriguing, and simply fun, which accents the whole game. While there are repeated themes compared to previous games, each stands on its own as a Twilght Princess dungeon, and not just another Zelda dungeon. Zelda isn't Zelda without the items, and Twilight Princess hasn't come empty-handed. With approximately 10 new items, that's more than any Zelda game since Link to the Past. Those new items include some of the best additions to the series since the hookshot and aren't just one-trick-wonders. In the past, items seemed to be relegated to a position of being single-use items for solving the puzzle repeatedly--not so for the new additions to Twilight Princess, which makes using the items in various situations some of the highlights of the game. The one consistent complaint about the Zelda series (especially in 3D) is that the combat is very simplified and normal enemies are just big targets to button mash pass. Twilight Princess has taken as many measures to rectify this, and is done mostly through sheer variety. Many new enemies, including armoured ones, plenty of fresh situations that make you change your approach, plenty of new battle techniques including horseback. Everything about how you combat has been upgraded and expanded in every way shape and form. You couldn't ask for more. Aside from completing the story, there are sidequests and minigames. There are multiple collection quests that span the whole game trying to find each of a particular thing which can occupy you for a while if you can swept up in it, which is easy to do. The minigames are there also, with a very flushed out fishing game. What's strange about the minigames is that while they are as well-developed as any minigames in the series, the main quest so greatly outshines it that you just don't want to stop and mingle. When it comes to Twilight Princess, if there's something that's been in a Zelda game before that isn't directly related to the story of a previous game, it's probably in Twilight Princess and made better. From the quirky mailman to the return of the fortune teller, there's a lot here. |
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| Audio | 9.50 |
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Strangely, one of the most talked about subjects of Twilight Princess has been the audio. From debates about whether there should be voice-acting to intolerance about reused music to outrage over MIDI music. Take heart, as what's in the game is excellent. Firstly, there's a lot of new music. In fact, there's more new than old, and anything old has been redone. Hyrule field alone has at least three new songs itself, with the one played during the night being particularly captivating. The music really fits the mood of particular scenes well and genuinely impacts the enjoyment of the game. While yes, the music is in MIDI format, it's not as if you're listening to MIDIs from your computer--there is very high-quality synthesis and at times I personally can not tell the difference. An actual benefit is that some of the music has such strange instrumentation that it may not have even been possible to produce the equivalent in orchestral form. The only repeat songs are some of the best in the series such as Zelda's Lullaby. All that feels lacking here is just one particularly epic moving score. As for voice-acting, as in The Wind Waker, there is a form of voice-acting; more of a pseudo voice-acting. There will be sounds from the character such as a sigh, grunt of speaking gibberish. This is much improved over The Wind Waker, and Midna in particular is near perfect. However, it is a bit lacking for some characters. Fully utilized, I really enjoy this method, and it makes the mailman far more entertaining than if I had to hear his annoying voice actually say something. |
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| Depth | 9.50 |
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First and foremost, combat is by far the most in-depth and rewarding in the series. Building on the mechanics of The Wind Waker in which there were prompts to press A to perform a manoeuvre, you now perform those through combinations, which makes battle flow much better and give the user more options and eliminate much of the repetition in combat. On top of that, there are more manoeuvres than what appeared in The Wind Waker, and are all quite practical, depending on your style and the situation. Battle doesn't just come down to your sword and shield, as you have many weapons available to you. Most items actually have some use in battle and mixes things up fairly well. There aren't too many enemies in which are divied up into "this item for this enemy, this item for this enemy etc.", most it depends on simply what you feel is appropriate. Items have also always been an integral part of boss battles, and Twilight Princess is no different. While the bosses lack difficulty, how you go about defeating them isn't simplistic or bland; they're engaging and well-thought out. The final twist to battle is that you have a wolf-form with different strengths and weaknesses. Later in the game, there is more focus on human form as wolf would likely have gotten tiresome, but it is a change that improves the depth for the better. Puzzles have also taken a big step forward. The Wind Waker bordered on blatantly obvious, while Twilight Princess maintains a subtlty that avoids being frustrating. Most puzzles are very involving and clever. |
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| Value & Fun | 10.00 |
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Twilight Princess has a lot going for it. While you can pick apart some little details and see what's there. The longest dungeons ever seen in a Zelda game make the game a lot more enjoyable; expect to spend over 20 hours in dungeons alone. Among those lengthy dungeons (the fifth), is what I consider the single greatest dungeon ever; it's incredibly imaginative with almost Metroid-like expansion, a terrific item, grand boss, even humour sprinkled throughout. On top of that, it also has the best first dungeon that does an excellent job of drawing you into the world, developing characters and setting up the plot for the entire game. The bosses in the game start a bit too simply, but ramp up in intensity and creativity although a bit lacking in difficulty, which manages to not detract from the fun due to how involved they are. The length in dungeons helped the game reach over 40 hours for my completion, which absolutely flew by when thinking about how long other games of equal length felt. The improved combat really improves the experience. Battle never gets tiresome, right down to the end. There are not only a lot more armoured enemies than seen before, there are not all defeated the same way and there is more to defeating them than finding a weak spot. There are also instances where tactics play a much larger role. Riding on horseback is better than ever, with it now feeling and controlling as if your at the reins of a powerful steed, which is only amplified in horseback combat. There really are times when it's better to be a wolf, and those sections are as well done as any in the game. In fact, the wolf sections really carry the first 10 hours of the game. There have been criticisms of the first part of the game being slow and/or boring, but I fail to see it. I found the wolf-form done so well that it was as much fun as I had in any Zelda game. There are great uses of "senses" in the game, which are possibly influenced by the obscure title "Dog's Life". You can pick up scents and find things buried in the ground, but your vision is narrowed and shortened which a hazy feel and dark border. It's also quite fun once you can find people while in wolf form to see the reactions, which is another little detail that makes the game stand out. The wolf mechanic works so well that I hope for its return in some form in the future. However, in retrospect, the game only got better. Improvements in the general design are also evident. Being able to talk to Midna at any time for a hint is a concept that is a big plus and has been in the last couple Zelda games, although never always available in a 3D Zelda. There is now a persistent map in the bottom left corner that is invaluable and makes navigating a dungeon, overworld or otherwise far more intuitive. The portal system for warping between areas is introduced as most coherently as any Zelda game has and it comes with some very nice effects along with excellent placement. The fortune teller is also a nice touch as if you get lost, you can get detailed direction for 10 rupees; also, for the same cost, you can ask about "Love" and see the image of an area with a heart-piece that you haven't collected. The slight drawbacks are that fishing isn't explained well and at certain points is required for progression in the game. Not properly understanding the mechanics can create frustration. Also, while the difficulty is increased, it is still a bit lacking. Ultimately, though, fishing could be a non-issue and difficulty is enough that you never become apathetic--if you do, you're likely to die (which happened to me). There's so much to like they utterly overwhelm these nit-picky problems. |
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| Overall | 9.76 |
| The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, it's Ocarina of Time...except with a completely different story, characters, dungeons, audio, controls, items, enemies, bosses, overworld, minigames, sidequests and combat mechanics. Oh, and that wolf thing. In all seriousness, there is more new content and mechanics in Twilight Princess than any Zelda game since Link to the Past; in fact, it's more comparable to Link to the Past; the number of dungeons, the dark/light world motif, even the world layout. In the end, it's not a matter of what Twilight Princess is like, it's about what it is. What is The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess? Best in series. | |
Posted by Ellyoda Mon, 11 Dec 2006 00:00:00
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